Currently, a variety of systems and/or processes are used for inspecting manufacturing defects in printed circuit boards. Printed circuit boards typically include one or more electrical components (e.g., computer chips, capacitors, etc.) soldered to an integrated circuit (IC). For many years, the de facto process for production of printed circuit board assemblies included manual visual inspection (MVI) after soldering, followed by an electrical test, such as in-circuit testing (ICT), at the end of the assembly process to isolate any defects that occurred during manufacturing. Typically, a final functional test was run to verify that the printed circuit board operated properly before it was integrated into a final product.
As the need for more complex printed circuit boards having more components increased, automated inspection systems became popular. Such inspection systems typically comprise a printed circuit board modeling system, an imaging system, and a control system. Typically, the modeling system is used to generate a computer model of a printed circuit board that is to be mass-produced. The imaging system comprises hardware and/or software for capturing an image of the manufactured printed circuit board. Currently, image systems employ a variety of imaging techniques (e.g., x-ray, optical, ultrasonic, thermal image, etc.). The control system typically receives a file containing a computer model of the particular printed circuit board from the modeling system. Based on the computer model, the control system may generate an inspection program to be implemented by the imaging system. The inspection program may be used to image a manufactured printed circuit board, which is based on the computer model generated by the modeling system. After the imaging system generates the images of the manufactured printed circuit board, the images may be compared to the computer model to inspect for a variety of manufacturing defects (e.g., open solder joints, shorts, missing components, misaligned components, insufficient solder joints, excess solder joints, reversed capacitors, solder balls, solder voids, etc).
Control systems implemented in current PCB inspection systems typically employ a graphical user interface to assist in generating the inspection program to be implemented by the imaging system and for interfacing with the PCB modeling system. Such control systems, however, may be very complex and require a substantial amount of user training in order to be operated effectively. Accordingly, many such systems integrate application help, or help services, as part of the computer application. Such help services are very limited. For example, such systems typically provide the help services on a transient basis, in a separate window or dialog box, and only after the user has asked for the help to be displayed. This may be problematic for a variety of reasons. For instance, in such systems and other computer applications, the user has to know the help services are available in order to initiate them. The separate dialog box or window must be managed. In other words, the user may have to manipulate the dialog box or window within the display screen, such as by minimizing it or placing it beneath the main application window. Furthermore, such systems and other computer applications provide help services associated with the computer application as an all-or-nothing proposition. The help services are either displayed or not displayed and the user has a burden to initiate and manage the help services.
Thus, there is a need in the industry for systems and methods for providing dedicated help services in a computer application.